Silent Sky
by Runningidiot
Summary: Two years have passed by quite quickly yet despair still clings at both Lloyd Irving and Sheena Fujibayashi as they gather all the exspheres from the rebuilt world of Symphonia. Full Summary and Disclaimer inside
1. Part One: Recovery

A/N

Yep, I've moved from Harry Potter to… Tales of Symphonia! I've been playing the game for awhile now even with school going on… but don't worry! Cry of a Restless Soul is still going on, I'm just getting the feeling that people are losing interest in that… so I've moved on to other things in an attempt to spread my… (ahem) influence along this vast sight.

Summary:

Two years have passed by quite quickly; despair still clings at both Lloyd Irving and Sheena Fujibayashi as they gather all the exspheres from the rebuilt world of Symphonia. But even as they burn the pile, no relief is apparent in the two friends. Though when another war seems to be on the horizon, these sad thoughts are pushed back and omitted as Lloyd and his companions try desperately to halt this war.

Disclaimer:

I do not own, or intend to make profit off of, this fanfic. I do not own the original characters, if I create a character than I shall specify who it is and that I own him/her and permission to use him/her will only be granted by me; Runningidiot.

Silent Sky

Part One:

Recovery

_A brown haired boy propped open a normal looking door; squeezing through the narrow opening, and after recovering outside the room; shut the wooden door as silently as possible, wincing at the creaking noises it made. No doubt Kratos would make a fuss about this, but who cared? I walked down the stairs of the Palmacoasta Inn._

_Lloyd soon found himself in the lobby, seeing no one at the desk; he dashed out into the evening daylight, pulling a hand up to block the beams of light that greeted him as soon as he left the inn._

_"Took you long enough," Lloyd was slightly startled at this monotone sounding comment. He turned around, seeing the older warrior propped against the wall of the inn, his right hand resting on the hilt of his long sword. "No one saw you correct?"_

_Lloyd sighed. "Yes no one saw me." He said in a rehearsed sounding tone. "Why is it _so _important that no one knows you're training me?" Kratos made a sound with his throat, sounding as if he was clearing it._

_"We will keep this secret to start off, are you absolutely su-"_

_"YES!" The deprived Irving child wined again. "Now can we go!"_

_"Humph," Kratos grunted, muttering something Lloyd couldn't hear after it. When Lloyd started to question this unknown muttering, the older man lifted a hand. "We will go to a different location; the public is not exactly the most…"_

_"Best?" Lloyd supplied._

_"Adequate place to train." Kratos finished, not looking at the younger boy but setting off, his footsteps silent. Lloyd stepped off after him, his footsteps clicking loudly on the interlocked stoning ground of Palmacoasta._

_He followed the experienced swordsman out of the city, not looking back like Kratos; Lloyd continued to follow the warrior obediently attempting to act as calm and composed as the older, more skilled, magic swordsman. Soon Lloyd noticed the lack of sunlight seeping through the various tree branches reaching out in random directions above him, he absently reached up and broke a branch off, swinging it around as if it were a sword._

_"You have one already." Kratos stated without turning around, Lloyd shot his back a frowning look, throwing the stick away and quickening his pace to match that of Kratos'._

_Lloyd walked beside the taller man, trying to walk with purpose just as Kratos did. Lloyd heard a slight snort sound from Kratos' direction. Turning his head to the left sharply, he frowned at the older man._

_"What's that supposed to mean!" Again Kratos snorted. "Answer me damn it!" A chuckle replied this comment now, rather than a snort and Lloyd felt himself taken-aback by this sudden change of heart._

_Kratos halted suddenly, Lloyd immediately looking around for the source of this stop. "You're so easy to enrage." Lloyd's head swivelled back to face Kratos' expression, which the sixteen year old boy could not read very easily. The only Irving alive now stepped back a couple of steps, stuttering slightly while trying to decipher this expression._

_"Uh… er… why're you looking at me like that?"_

_Kratos turned abruptly, omitting the question. "Come, I wish to find a suitable location before sunset." He said sharply, walking on without waiting for the younger warrior._

_Lloyd fumbled to catch up to Kratos, twisting his legs slightly as he started his run, he tripped to the ground; grumbling with an annoyed growl added in to it. Though what really made Lloyd angered was the sidelong smile on Kratos._

_However rare it was to see Kratos smile, Lloyd knew he was smiling at his trip. Lloyd leaped upward, planting his feet properly on the forested grass and running his right hand through his dark brown hair. He glared at Kratos, walking past the chuckling man._

_Lloyd soon lost track of time, twirling his right sword in his hand and whistling an unfamiliar tune. He felt his eyes scout out the area around him, soaking in the pleasant appearance of this forest. Branches came from every angle, blocking the sunlight and shadowing the ground beneath it. Green leaves clouded the canopy of the forest, bringing with them, a pleasant odour._

_"Stop," Lloyd answered obediently, halting his walk and turning around to see the older warrior walking past him. Lloyd's head followed the walk of Kratos Aurion, he moved around constantly, pausing to feel the grass and brush the leaves._

_"W…What're you doing?" The only known Irving still alive asked the mercenary. He stood up from the ground which he was crouched on just a moment ago and turned around to face him._

_"I am merely checking if this is a suitable location." He turned away from Lloyd and started to pace around the large clearing. "The wind is blocked by the trees; the sun has passed over us bringing us both heat and light, but no glare."_

_"Wha...?" Lloyd replied dumbly and Kratos responded with a slight chuckle._

_He turned around, facing the eager swordsman. "You have been rather impatient."_

_Lloyd couldn't help but put on a confused look. "How am I impatient!"_

_"You have been complaining about various things, acting quite immature, and you are acting quite irritable right now." The older man answered honestly._

_"No I haven't!" Kratos snorted._

_"Let's begin then." Then the mercenary muttered something after that Lloyd didn't quite understand. Though when Kratos pulled out his shinning long sword; Lloyd got the message and drew his twin swords._

_"Spread your feet apart." Kratos said immediately and Lloyd felt his two legs moved accordingly, creating a slight gap between his two feet. "Now show me your ready stance."_

_"Ready… stance?" Lloyd said blankly._

_Kratos relaxed his grip on his own sword while running a hand through his brown hair, sighing deeply. "This is going to be tough."_

_"What is?" Lloyd asked curiously._

_"Ah… nothing, the ready stance is a… well a stance which you can intercept enemy's attacks." Lloyd felt something click within his mind and he knew an expression of realization dawned upon his own face. He turned slightly, his right shoulder facing the formidable Kratos, the two swords resting on their respective sides._

_"How's this?" The brown haired kid asked, lifting his two hands, trying to indicate the stance._

_"You're wide open." Kratos answered bluntly and Lloyd felt his mouth fall wide open. "Using two swords lessen your blocking capabilities."_

_"B-but," Lloyd said quickly, stuttering over the word. He cleared his throat and continued nonetheless. "But if one sword has the power of one hundred then two swords would make…" Lloyd started to count in his head…_

_"Two hundred," Kratos supplied and Lloyd nodded. "Is that the reason you started to use two swords?"_

_"Uh…" Lloyd said nervously and Kratos replied with a slight chuckle._

A/N Yeah, it's shorter compared to Cry of a Restless Soul, but once the story comes together the chapters will increase in length. Hopefully..._  
_


	2. Chapter 1: Aftermath

Summary: 

Chapter one of the epic tale of Silent Sky, Lloyd will finally cherish his last moment with his mother's memento and Sheena will ask for a rather big favor...

Disclaimer:

I do not own, or intend to make profit off of, this fanfic. I do not own the original characters, if I create a character than I shall specify who it is and that I own him/her and permission to use him/her will only be granted by me; Runningidiot.

Silent Sky

Chapter One: 

Aftermath

As Lloyd tossed the last exsphere into the growing pile, he felt a great sweep of relief swell up inside of him. Breathing steadily he felt his gaze move to his right wrist. His mother's memento was next to be thrown in; the last victim to receive salvation. He felt his left hand move to it, plucking it out and ignoring the sweep of energy flowing out of him.

He gazed at it, fixing every marking and every dent into his mind, he closed his fingers around it; shutting his two brown eyes tightly.

"Let her go Lloyd." He heard his good friend say. "This is what she would want." Her voice brought a relative amount of comfort to the eighteen year old boy, but nonetheless he kept the exsphere of Anna in his left fist.

The only Irving alive turned around and faced the young girl from Mizuho. "Y… we have never met her… so all in all-"

"Lloyd," The black haired Mizuho girl interrupted, causing Lloyd to look back into her seemingly black eyes. "What would you want if you were… were…" she looked away, her usually gentle eyes turning quite blank. Lloyd felt his gaze move to the giant pile of exspheres.

"Damnit," Lloyd muttered under his breath, throwing his mom's exsphere into the pile where it made a slight dent, a couple of balls rolled down from the top of the pile, covering up the dent in which his exsphere just zoomed through. "DAMNIT!" The eighteen-year-old repeated with a cry; falling to the ground on his knees. He soon felt Sheena's comforting hand grip his shoulder, he felt the tears pouring from his eyes but made no effort to stop them, and he felt a slight drip of water on his shoulder and knew that his friend was crying as well.

Moments passed by in silence, the only sounds heard around the clearing were the sobs coming from the two people, their contempt clouding everything around them, making everything else seem irrelevant. How many human lives were lost to exspheres? How many individuals were sacrificed for the sole purpose of allowing other humans to live longer. Lloyd remembered that the Renegade Yuan said something about his exsphere evolving, but how was it evolving? Why was it?

Did it matter now? Lloyd watched the Mizuho representative light a fire with some handy flint, Lloyd watched the flame engulf the pile, he noticed his vision was quite blurry because of the endless streams of tears, but even those tears could not block out the bright flame. He stood up, turning away from the gaping flame; he heard the brush of grass that meant Sheena was nearby.

"L-Lloyd," she stuttered. "Don't… I mean yo.. you don't…"

"I'm okay Sheena." Lloyd supplied, trying to smile as he turned around to face her but couldn't push the curve of the lips that far.

She turned away from him, walking toward the flame. "I… I'm sorry." She said quietly. "I'm not very good at cheering you up eh?"

"N – no it's not tha-" Sheena snorted, reminding Lloyd of his own father, she rotated her head so a bit of her left eye faced Lloyd.

"Listen Lloyd, none of this is your fault." Lloyd's look of despair disappeared at this comment and any pessimistic thoughts were immediately pushed to the back of his mind.

"Wha…?" she laughed heartedly at this, a sound Lloyd had not heard for a long time indeed.

"Whatever happened to your optimisim!" She turned around fully, her entire body facing him. Lloyd noticed that she was gripping the piece of flint rather tightly. Though, through reading her expression, Lloyd guessed that she didn't even notice that seemingly sharp rock gripped in her hand. He saw her raise her eyebrows and he drew away from his thoughts quite suddenly. Uttering…

"Wha…?" Lloyd repeated. "Wait… wh-what does that have anything to do wi-"

"Lloyd!" She interrupted again. "You're acting all depressed, crying over this and that." She stepped forward just a bit, but it was enough to make every thought disappear from Lloyd's mind. "The Lloyd I cherished _so _much before wouldn't cry at all, he would have just kept going, thinking something would… would… I don't know." The boy in question found himself laughing at this, stepping backward; he rubbed his eyes with the back of his red sleeve.

"Lloyd I'm serious!" The boy just kept laughing, tears bleeding out of his eyes constantly. Lloyd noticed that a slight smile was curling on her expression and she herself started to laugh.

Then it stopped, and the reality of the rejoined world of Symphonia came flowing back into his mind. Lloyd felt the smile disappear instantly, he heard Sheena move a bit closer, a faint brush of grass was the only hint at that.

"I want the old Lloyd back." She stated with a whisper, yet Lloyd heard it quite clearly. He chuckled, turning away from his friend and crossing his arms.

"I'll try," he said faintly. "I-I just…"

"Don't know how long it'll take?" Lloyd nodded, sitting down on the ground. He could still hear the flames eating away at the exspheres, he found his head turning to watch the burning haze and found himself hearing whispers of screams.

Lloyd rose from the ground, squinting at the pile, he could still hear them. Screams of agony, both male and female, both accented and not accented, though they all sounded the same, he walked toward it, holding out his hand.

"Mom…" he whispered when he was right in front of the flame. He could help his mother, he could save her from this pain, he reached for the flame when…

"SNAP OUT OF IT!" Lloyd shook his hand away from the flame when it was slapped by his friend, he stepped back from the fire, his head bouncing between the fire and Sheena's unreadable expression.

"Why'd you butt in!" Lloyd asked angrily, fury no doubt imbedded on his face. "Can't you hear them!"

Sheena crossed her arms, speaking in a calm tone. "Yes I can, but that is merely a lure meant to lead us to our death. It is nothing but a magitechnology program Lloyd," Sheena uncrossed her arms, stepping forward, the gentleness look in her eyes returning. "They are now free Lloyd, just like Mithos… just like Alicia… just like…"

"Yeah… yeah I know." Lloyd turned away, his posture relaxing. "I – I'm sorry about that…"

"No need to be, you just regret what you've done." She yawned quite loudly, Lloyd watched her stretch her long arms around. "You wanna set up camp?"

"Yeah… yeah sure," he said distantly, walking toward their nearby campsite while Sheena dashed to catch up with him.

Soon night had fallen, and Lloyd watched the blinking skyline as he stirred a mixture of potatoes, meat, and several other vegetables that made up this stew around in the pot as Sheena lay back on the grass with her eyes closed.

"What're we going to do now?" She asked suddenly and Lloyd looked up to meet her dark eyes. He looked away from them the next second; afraid he would fumble over words because of the eye contact.

"I… I dunno." He stuttered, cursing under his breath. "Maybe go back to…"

"To…?" Sheena repeated after a few seconds of silence.

"Mizuho?" Lloyd put forward, watching Sheena shrug slightly.

"Gran… the Chief will probably make me stay if we go back and…" Sheena paused, looking down at her chest and away from Lloyd. "And… well I don't want to go back just yet."

Lloyd cocked his head in confusion at this. "Why not? We're done with collecting the exspheres… isn't that all that we set out for?" The Summoner shrugged again.

"I suppose so… but it just… y-you kn…know…" Sheena stuttered, Lloyd continued to mix the stew while she tried to sort out her thoughts. "It just doesn't feel over does it?" She said after a couple of stirs around the pot. Lloyd switched to a counter-clockwise stir now; looking up to find dark eyes staring back at his own.

"Yeah… yeah I suppose so, but what else can we do?" The Mizuho girl laughed at this, the not familiar smile making her expression brighten considerably. Lloyd looked around their surroundings, soaking in the comfortable atmosphere of the forest edge.

"Say Lloyd," Sheena said suddenly, drawing Lloyd's head over back to her. "Do… do you th… think that you could teach me…"

"Teach you…?" Lloyd heard her take a deep breath and wondered why she was doing that.

"Do you think you can teach me how to use a sword?" She said very fast, stumbling slightly over the words and pronunciations. Lloyd felt taken aback by this, the spoon he was stirring the stew with falling out of his grip and plummeting into the stew, Lloyd cursed, reaching in the hot liquid and retrieving the heated spoon.

"Uh…" he said dropping the spoon onto the grass; he thought about the question that Sheena was asking him.

_"Can I really teach her though…?" _Lloyd thought in his mind's eye. Looking at the excited expression of Sheena Fujibayashi made him want to teach her… but could Lloyd actually teach someone just as Kratos once did to him?

"C… can I think about it?" Lloyd said nervously.

"Oh sure! Take as much time as you want, seriously!" Sheena said speedily as if as nervous as Lloyd himself.

"Thanks," though Lloyd couldn't help but start to think of detailed lesson plans in order to teach her, a smile appeared on his face as he poured some stew into two separate bowls and handed one to Sheena.

"What're you smiling at?" She asked curiously, accepting the bowl with a mumble of thanks. Lloyd's smile broadened at this comment.

"Just thinking of how much fun this journey's going to be." He said calmly.

Sheena looked slightly taken aback at this. "But we've been together for… for what? A year?" Lloyd chuckled, shutting his two eyes.

"That was merely the first chapter." He said epically, leaving the rest for Sheena to decipher.

A/N Yep, it's short. Like I said eariler, the length will come!


	3. Chapter 2: The Second Journey

Summary:

The sparring sessions begin between the two friends, then they will encounter something... rather random, and old friends all come together for a huge welcoming.

Chapter Two:

The Second Journey

The pain from blocking Sheena's downward strike stunned Lloyd momentarily. He leapt backward, readying himself for the next attack by his sword wielding friend. Lloyd noticed she had a wide smirk planted on her face, she moved quickly, swinging her right sword inward from the side, Lloyd parried the blow with his own right sword while thrusting his left one toward her gut.

Startled slightly, Sheena took the blow with a grunt, stepping back, Lloyd made no move to attack her any further and she nodded her approval. The Mizuho assassin took a couple of deep breaths, trying to empty her mind. She raised her two swords, trying to mimic Lloyd's fighting technique. Lloyd mirrored her move, raising his own, silvery, blades.

The blades themselves were made by Altessa the Dwarf as a thank you present for saving the world, while the blades cut deep into any sort of mammal or monster, they felt as light as a feather. Lloyd flicked his wrist, the sword obediently following his hand movements effortlessly. Lloyd Irving felt a smirk of his own carve itself on his expression.

Sheena charged unexpectedly. Lloyd, caught off-guard, barely managed the sidestep Sheena's downward attack with her left sword. Though Lloyd was indeed surprised when her right sword came crashing into his gut. Gripping it tightly; he stepped backward.

"Oh… oh Lloyd I-I'm so-" The eighteen year old boy laughed heartedly at this, still gripping his chest with his left hand which one sword still occupied.

"No need to apologize." He said with a couple of coughs thrown in. "This is what sparing is, isn't it?" Sheena opened and closed her mouth several times, looking quite shocked.

"Well… well yeah I suppose but-"

Lloyd cut her off. "So what's the matter?" She fumbled again with several words, trying to find what she was going to say.

"I'm your friend Lloyd!" She said sounding quite angry. Lloyd gaped at her, his shinning blades now in a forgotten position. "Don't you remember that? Or has fighting taken this feeling away from you!"

"S-Sheena… no…" The eighteen year old mumbled, looking at the soft dirt ground beneath them.

"Lloyd." The sudden softness in her tone made Lloyd's head rise up to make eye contact with her. "Don't ever forget about us, your friends. We're here for you, not just for battle purposes. We're… we're here just for you Lloyd."

Lloyd felt rather speechless at this; he felt his mouth open and close several times before anything eligible flowed outward from his throat. "Thanks…" he said, holding the last syllable for a longer duration than it would normally have.

"Hey… that's what friends are for right?" She smiled, bringing a replica of it onto Lloyd's face. "Is that it for sparring?" She asked; changing the topic. Lloyd nodded, sheathing his own twin blades at his waist line. Sheena mirrored him, though her sheaths were on her back, making a cross shape when someone gazed at her back. She started to whistle absently as she packed all of their belongings, for they were about the travel back to Iselia, where their journey had started.

"About two more days," she announced as she stringed the last bag to Noishe's side. She flicked away a loose thread of air that covered her left eye and smiled at Lloyd, who mimicked her.

"Two more days until we see everyone again right?" She nodded, hoisting herself on top of Noishe. "It's so odd…" he continued distantly.

"What is?" The Mizuho assassin inquired.

Lloyd continued to strap his possessions to Noishe's other side. He wined suddenly, opening his mouth wide, it seemed Noishe was indeed tired of walking these amazingly high distances between towns. "The fact that we haven't seen anyone else but each other for… what?"

"Two years." Supplied Sheena, with the same distant tone as Lloyd, "yeah, you're right."

"Everything else seemed so…" Lloyd left his sentence hanging, searching for the right term to finish it, while trying to start Noishe's animal engine, though it seemed to be out of fuel, for he wasn't moving a single step. He stayed on the spot, yawning constantly.

"Irrelevant." She supplied again. "I wonder what they've been up too." Lloyd laughed at this as he continued to prod Noishe forward; finally the stubborn animal gave in and started to walk slowly, Sheena going along with him. As Lloyd started to move his engine forward; he found that he did not need to jog to catch up with the animal.

"Irel… event?" Lloyd inquired though Sheena – instead of sighing which is the action most of the other members of their company performed – giggled. "What?"

Sheena giggled again as the three of them continued along the road into a shady looking forest. Sheena paid no mind to the change in environment when she continued to state her opinions on what their friends were doing at the moment. Lloyd found himself looking from side to side, his two hands resting on both of his swords. The space in between every tree could have been used by a bandit waiting for the perfect opportunity to ambush some unsuspecting travellers.

Lloyd Irving didn't want to give them this advantage, by looking for anything out of the ordinary, he was prepared to strike and assist the blissful Sheena. Indeed when a man leaped out from a bush in front of them he was not as startled as Sheena.

The alert boy leaped in front of Noishe, drawing his two unnamed blades as he jumped, the stranger seemed to be hostile looking, having a large, sharply curved, scythe drawn and in front of him. Noishe halted, straining to see what was the cause of Lloyd's sudden defensive stance.

"Who are you?" Lloyd yelled to the stranger, his two swords positioned correctly in order to easily block any attack made by this stranger. Truth be known Lloyd had never fought anything with a scythe curved as this one was.

"Who I am is not important." He said in a voice that sounded as if the user of the voice needed a couple of cough drops. Lloyd frowned, his knees trembling slightly at this hissing voice. "It is your death that is important Lloyd Irving."

The next second the scythe was above him, glinting slightly in the sunlight that flickered through the treetops.Luckily for Lloyd; Sheena entered the duel at that point, blocked the scythe's swing with her left blade while Lloyd ducked under and slashed at the bandit's side, tearing his flesh there.

He made no audible sound as he deflected Sheena's block, sending her left blade to the ground clanging against various prodding stones, Sheena paid no mind to the tossed weapon as she swung her remaining blade at his exposed abdomen, slicing the flesh there minimally. Yet again, he paid no mind to it as he prepared his next attack at Sheena.

In came Lloyd, striking at his unguarded back, Lloyd knew that Sheena was wincing quite profoundly at the sight of Lloyd's blade through the stranger's gut. When Lloyd withdrew it, he collapsed onto the ground, gasping slightly.

Truth be known; Lloyd was relatively surprised that he was still alive, but when a pair of leathery black wings sprouted from his back, making Lloyd leap backward slightly; he knew this was no ordinary man.

The angel humanoid rose into the canopy of the forest, the light illuminating the wings and his hooded face. Lloyd knew that he was an angel by the monotone expression on his face, a face with no emotion on it. He looked for any exsphere implanted on him but when the angel flew past the treetops and into the distant sky, he did not know if he indeed possessed one.

"What was that all about?" Lloyd looked over to see Sheena staring upward right where the intruder flew away. Lloyd shrugged, turning away from the canopy and walking over to Noishe to check his status.

"Maybe someone from Cruxis?" Lloyd said absently as he ran his left hand along Noishe's fur coat. He turned his face back to Sheena, who had finally turned away from the opening in the treetops in which the intruder had escaped via.

"Maybe…" she mumbled. "That doesn't seem right though… I mean…"

"All of Cruxis went with Derris-Karlan?" The eighteen year old boy inquired, she shrugged.

"I suppose some might've stayed for… I dunno… for fun maybe." Lloyd chuckled, clearing his throat.

"You inferior beings, I of Cruxis shall slay you all!" He said in his best Desian impersonation voice. Sheena laughed openly at this, a never-before-seen smile broadening on her expression.

"Yeah they were kinda lame." Lloyd snorted while Sheena hoisted herself onto Noishe's back.

Lloyd beckoned Noishe to start moving and this time he did it without any delay. Lloyd started to match his own walking speed to that of Noishe's as he replied to Sheena's statement. "Kinda is an understatement."

"True!" She exclaimed in response, the smile now wide.

They now moved in silence, only their feet brushing against the grass illuminated the eerie silence that surrounded them. Lloyd resumed his ready positioning, his feet somewhat apart and his eyes darting from side to side.

He couldn't help but feel a bit like Kratos. Indeed several times during their journey; Sheena pointed out that he sounded and acted like Kratos more often then once during several occasions. Every time Sheena pointed this out, the son of Kratos felt an odd sense of pride swell up from inside of him, was Kratos as legendary as most people thought him to be?

_"He was a traitor." _Lloyd frowned at this thought. True that he was a traitor, but Kratos continued to help him even though he had revealed himself to be part of the Cruxis organization.

Lloyd knew he would never betray his friends to anyone in this world and Kratos had done so fairly easily. With a snap of Yggdrasill's fingers, Kratos aligned himself against his own son and his friends. Why did Kratos even bother aligning himself with Ygg… Mithos.

"How am I supposed to know?" Lloyd jumped at this; he didn't even realize that he had just said that out loud.

"Uh…" he fumbled while Sheena peered at him with raised eyebrows. "I… I was just… you know…"

"Thinking out loud?" She said with amusement and Lloyd looked at the ground nodding slightly. She laughed openly. "You don't have to be so embarrassed you know."

Lloyd looked back up at her amused sidelong smile. "What're you talking about? You sound like that sometimes. 'oh.. oh I'm… I'm sorry Lloyd'." Sheena looked away from him, her face undoubtedly beet red.

"N-no… no I don't!" She mumbled and Lloyd took this opportunity to laugh just as Sheena did to him. She turned her head around so a glare stared right into Lloyd's face. His laugh and smile disappeared instantly and he mumbled an apology.

"Now we're even." She said sharply, turning away from him. Lloyd sighed, knowing he was defeated. He watched the various animals around them scurry around from tree to tree or from bush to bush and felt, somewhat, at peace.

Lloyd Irving knew that his journey was far from over. This sudden attack proved that flawlessly. Lloyd chuckled as he thought, for once, that Genis, his long time friend, was indeed right about something. Lloyd unsheathed his left sword with his right hand when a dark shape scampered across the path the two companions and their steed were travelling along.

The dark shape stopped, revealing itself to be a simple, dark brown coloured, rabbit. Its beady eyes peered up at Lloyd, seeing it's reflection in the gleaming silver sword Lloyd held out, soon sheathing it away. The clicking sound that resounded when he sheathed the sword seemed to startled the innocent animal, for it dashed into the nearby bush and out of sight.

"That was random." Sheena stated equally as random. Lloyd continued to walk on as if nothing happened while Sheena beckoned Noishe to continue just as Lloyd had done.

Soon the two friends reached their destination; the small village of Iselia, Lloyd noticed a couple of changes, not just to the town, but the surrounding area as well. It seemed Gnome gave a thank you present as well to the village for the forest the two of them had just exited from was indeed not there when Sheena and Lloyd left for their initial journey to rid the world of the vile exspheres.

The eighteen year old boy felt himself turn around to merely glance at the new forest and smiled, clearly pleased with this new addition to the, already, beautiful landscape.

"Hey," Sheena said, diverting Lloyd's attention away from the seemingly majestic mini-ecosystem. "You coming?" Lloyd smiled slightly and nodded, running forward to catch up to both Sheena and Noishe.

The welcoming to Iselia was beyond Lloyd's comprehension. As soon as they entered, a passing villager noticed them and alerted the entire town of the arrival under five seconds. It seems as though their arrival was anticipated, for every member of their company (minus Kratos) was present to welcome them. Lloyd gaped at the changes of every friend.

First came Presea, a short bright pink haired girl who, apparently, was left behind by time because of her exsphere's parasitism effect. During these two years, it seemed that she had grown a couple of inches, Lloyd smiled to her, bringing a hand up to wave to her.

"Lloyd! Sheena!" She exclaimed, dashing over without her usual axe weapon dragging behind her. "I heard the call, but I didn't think it was true!"

"What call?" Questioned Lloyd with a cock of his head.

Presea then cocked her head as well. "Kiran just called all of-"

"LLOYD!" The boy in question lifted his head, looking around for the source of the sudden outburst but was halted when two large arms grabbed him in a tight embrace. "YOU'RE BACK!"

"Ze-Zelos… ge-et off of me!" Lloyd stuttered pushing Tethe'alla's former Chosen away from him. Gasping slightly, the swordsman glared at the, now even, taller man.

Zelos still wore his hair the same, still as bright as it always was, like Presea, the only feature that seemed to change was his height.

"Sorry bud," he said in his usual casual tone, lifting a hand in a gesture that seemed to slightly indicate his apology. "So?"

"Uh?" Lloyd said blankly and the older man sighed deeply, choosing to ignore Lloyd's existence and went to greet Sheena, only to be momentarily hit by her.

"As childish as usual it seems." Lloyd turned to see his long time teacher, Raine Sage.

A grin appearing on his face, he opened his arms for a friendly embrace which she accepted openly. "How've you been Professor?" She released her grip and stepped back smiling widely now. Lloyd noticed her costume was different, getting away from the colour orange, she now dressed in a long starry night coloured robe which seemed to glitter slightly in the sunlight.

"Truthfully, not a lot has happened these… what? Two years?" Lloyd nodded. "How're you doing?"

Lloyd chucked at this. "I'm doing alright I suppose, Sheena and I finished the quest a lot earlier then we thought we would, but something odd happened on the way back…" Lloyd explained, to everyone present, the story of the angel attacker.

"Do you know if he's from Cruxis?" Presea asked in whispered voice.

"There's no way we could right?" Sheena answered rather quickly, as if trying to hide her hesitance.

Raine started to mutter something, using the same tone as one who was trying to solve a riddle would use. "That is rather unlikely isn't it?"

"What is Professor?" Lloyd questioned.

"If any angel from Cruxis was on either Sylvarant or Tethe'alla at the time of Derris-Karlan's drift, then surely they would have died out by now right?"

"Uh? Why?" Sheena and Lloyd both said in unison, neither blinking after the question was spoken.

"There was little mana left in both worlds at that time, Derris-Karlan, I presume, was soaking up all of the mana from both worlds for the purpose of Martel's revival. It seemed that Mithos did not care about anything at the time besides his own sister.

"Anyway, the angel's life depends on mana. Rather than oxygen, which humans and elves need to breathe; the angels of Cruxis breathed in mana to survive. I think the Cruxis Crystals they were imbedded with to gain their angelic abilities created this everlasting need for mana."

"Wha…what?" Lloyd said gaping while the rest of the company laughed heartedly.

"It's good to have you back Lloyd!" Zelos said cheerfully, clapping his hand against Lloyd's back.

Soon Lloyd was being dragged around the town by mainly Zelos, who was introducing him to plenty of strangers whom Lloyd forgot about entirely after Zelos introduced him to the next person. The eighteen year old warrior felt rather tired of smiling and elegantly bowing his greetings to various higher classed people than himself. Lloyd felt rather thankful when Colette appeared, her usually long blonde hair tied up and her white costume now replaced with a navy blue v-neck tunic.

Lloyd greeted his long time friend with a hug and a grin, while he asked her what was going on with her life, Genis Sage appeared out seemingly out of thin air, also saying his greetings with the usual excited twelve-year-old look on his face. As Lloyd talked with his old friends, blissful and relaxed, he knew his journey had come to an end.

Though when Sheena came running to him, slightly flushed, he knew his next one was about to start.


End file.
